


I'll Be Holding on to You

by corruptedkid



Series: descend!verse [3]
Category: Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys (Album), Twenty One Pilots
Genre: M/M, THE BOYS R BACK TOGETHER, i did this for u hannah... only u could get me to write twenty one pilots fanfic, i think this goes without saying but. you Need to read descend in order to understand any of this, only u
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-13
Updated: 2017-05-13
Packaged: 2018-10-31 04:43:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,414
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10891935
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/corruptedkid/pseuds/corruptedkid
Summary: The last time Tyler saw Josh, they were thirteen years old.





	I'll Be Holding on to You

**Author's Note:**

  * For [personalized_radio](https://archiveofourown.org/users/personalized_radio/gifts).



> hey look! it's tyler's story!

The last time Tyler saw Josh, they were thirteen years old. 

They were sitting backstage while the Suitehearts played. Every few minutes, Josh would pull out the earplugs Benzedrine had insisted he wear and adjust them, squishing the foam into a tiny ball before shoving them back in. He was always restless during shows. They both knew he’d rather be _on_ the stage than behind it, beating out a rhythm to whatever they saw fit to play. It would happen one day; that Tyler knew for sure. The Suitehearts had taken a liking to them, even going so far as to listen to their demos, and they’d even gotten to jam with the Fabulous Killjoys once or twice. Hell, they were practically _friends_ with Panic. Their futures were looking bright - all it would take was a bit of time.

Those were the thoughts running through Tyler’s head as he sat backstage. Dreams of performing - not of fame and fortune, but the simple bliss of putting music out into the world. All killjoys felt it at some level. He could hear it in the screaming of the crowd. One day, he would be one of the lucky few who got to act on it, to play in front of crowds like that. 

The backstage view was nice, but suddenly, he wanted to be in the middle of it all.

“Hey, Message?” he tried to say, but his voice was lost in the noise of the concert. Instead, he tapped Josh on the shoulder and pointed to himself, then out to the crowd. Josh nodded and kept tapping at his knees. 

Tyler stood up and slipped through the wings, down the stairs, into the mass of people below. He took care to stay near the edges - he loved the energy of the crowd, but didn’t want to be sucked into it. Being trampled wasn’t at the top of his to-do list. He weaved through the throng as best he could, brushing up against other killjoys as he made his way toward the back. Anyone else might have questioned his choice of destination, but he knew something they didn’t: there was a lighting rig just where the crowd began to thin out, and if you were careful, you could climb all the way up to the top and watch from there. 

Tyler made it to the rig with no trouble. He couldn’t see the stage over everyone’s heads - he was much too short - but that was a fixable problem. He grabbed onto the first metal bar and hoisted himself up, scaling the rig with quick, practiced motions. He reached the top in seconds. 

From way up there, he could see _everything_.

Sandman was bouncing all around the stage, leaning on Benzedrine and running to play back-to-back with Horseshoe before whirling away again. Donnie was in the back, pounding out a steady beat on the kick drum - Donnie was cool, Tyler liked him, but he’d always call Josh the best drummer in the world - and the crowd loved it. They screamed Benzedrine’s lyrics back to him, pumping their fists and never seeming to run out of energy or volume. They just got louder, louder, louder. 

Tyler didn’t think anything of it until the first shot went off. 

It startled him so badly he nearly fell off the rig. A burst of white light, and suddenly, there were dracs on the scene, crawling about below him and firing into the crowd. Their screams, Tyler realized too late, were not of joy, but of terror. People ran in opposite directions, the crowd dissolving into a mess of collisions. The concert was over. It was time to get the fuck out or get ghosted. Onstage, Tyler could see Donnie throw his sticks aside, heading for the stairs. The others had already vanished.

Tyler scanned over the heads of the fleeing killjoys, searching for a familiar brown mohawk, but everyone was moving too fast. He couldn’t see anything. Damn it, where was Josh?

“Blurry!” somebody shouted. “Get the fuck down from there!”

Tyler glanced down to see Sandman lingering at the edge of the stage. He gestured emphatically at Tyler, jabbing his finger toward the ground. Josh was standing beside him. At the sight of him, Tyler heaved a sigh of relief and started climbing down. Up in the air, he made an easy target for the dracs. He scrambled down the rig as quickly as he could, but the second his feet hit the ground, he lost his visibility. Everyone was taller than him, and chaos abounded; people were still screaming, running back and forth with no sense of direction. The noise was underscored by the steady _pew-pew_ of ray guns. He couldn’t _see_.

The panic hit him like a tidal wave. 

Fuck. _Fuck_. He had to get to Josh, they had to _run_. Tyler threw himself into the crowd, stumbling as he was buffeted back and forth. The bodies seemed to crush in on him. Wherever he moved, there was a stray limb waiting to smack into him, knocking the wind from his lungs. It was getting harder and harder to catch his breath.

“Message!” he yelled. “Where are you?”

Shouting was useless. His was just another voice in the din, crying out helplessly as the dracs swarmed all around. They had gotten up on the stage now, and were shooting from above. Killjoys dropped randomly as the zaps caught them in the side, the leg, the head. There was no way to predict who would be hit next. Tyler tried to zigzag back and forth in the hopes of bettering his luck, but only managed to bump into more people. Fuck. What if they’d already gotten Josh? No, they couldn’t have, Tyler had seen him with Sandman. Sandman would protect him; Tyler just needed to _get out_.

Someone’s leg caught on his, and he tripped, landing right on his face. A shock of pain went shooting up his jaw, and he clutched a hand to it, cursing under his breath. His tongue felt too heavy in his mouth. He ran it along the inside of his teeth, and the metallic taste of blood made his head swim. Not good. This was _not good_. He could feel his chest beginning to seize up as he fought to keep his head above the quickly-rising flood of anxiety. Even his own body betrayed him in the end. He fought his way back to his feet, but the crowd around him surged and rolled like a living thing, determined to swallow him up and crush him.

“Message,” he said weakly. There was no way anyone could hear him, but he was past calling for his best friend. Now, he was calling for anything; it was a simple, desperate plea for this all to _stop_.

Tyler turned back toward the stage, jumping up to see over the heads of older killjoys.

His blood went cold.

The draculoid at the front of the stage was looking right at him. Behind the mask, there was no real way to tell, but Tyler _knew_.

He didn’t think before turning and plunging deeper into the crowd, allowing himself to be thrown back and forth in the mayhem. Anything to get away. He just had to take this one second at a time. If he could just get _out_ , he could find Josh -

He cried out in pain as something hot streaked across his arm. Gunfire. _Shit_ , he was bleeding. The killjoys around him scattered, leaving his immediate surroundings wide open.

Tyler’s throat closed up. 

He swallowed hard, straining for one last glimpse of a familiar face, and then something knocked him flat on his face, and everything was white.

***

Five years later, and Tyler was still waiting to see his best friend again. 

The years of separation had been horrible. He’d been kidnapped, brainwashed, nearly killed on multiple occasions, and then, once the worst of it was over, discovered a side of himself he’d never known. (As it turned out, he didn’t mind Battery City half as much as he would’ve thought when he was a kid. As long as you were with the juviehalls and not BLi, it wasn’t such a bad place.)

He liked being a medic for Brobeck’s faction. It was a good job; it kept him busy, and the opportunity to help people made him feel all warm and fuzzy inside. It was almost better than being in the desert. Out there, people knew how to handle themselves. But within the city walls, BLi was always causing new problems, messing people up in all new ways. Those people were the ones who _really_ needed help. Tyler could provide it for them.

But there were some things about the desert that he missed so much, it was like a physical pain, an ache in the depths of his very soul.

When Killer and Sandman suggested that they take a trip out to the zones, he jumped at the chance. It had been far too long.

Hopefully, Josh still thought about Tyler. Tyler wouldn’t know what to do if he didn’t.

***

Tyler lingered in the doorway to Dr. D’s shack.

It was official. Once Dr. D had put out the call, they’d gotten a response almost immediately. Tyler had been out with Benzedrine and Sandman at the time, so he hadn’t gotten to speak with Josh over the radio, but he’d been informed shortly after that Josh was on his way.

It was that simple.

After years apart, they could be reunited in the blink of an eye. Tyler’s heart was full to bursting with excitement, but he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t nervous, too. The fears were completely irrational - Josh was his best friend. They were closer than any killjoys in the zones. No matter what, Josh would always remember him, always accept him. Their separation wouldn’t change their friendship.

But the doubts stuck in the back of his mind all the same. 

Tyler poked the door open, letting it swing before he took a cautious step inside. 

“Hello?” he asked softly. “Anybody here?”

There came a clatter from the next room. “Just a moment!” called Dr. D’s voice, and the next second, a boy hurtled in from the next room over. He skidded to a halt in the middle of the floor, brown eyes wide with shock. Dr. D wheeled in after him.

Tyler couldn’t do anything but stare. There were no words he could speak; no breath in his lungs. 

There he was. 

He was taller, with more muscle, and his hair was _pink_ , holy _crap_ , when had _that_ happened - but Tyler would have known that smile anywhere. Josh opened his arms the second Tyler ran at him, and Tyler hugged him tighter than he would’ve thought was possible. He squeezed as hard as he could, and Josh squeezed back. It was the only thing that kept Tyler from suspecting it was all a dream. Because holy _shit_ , they were together again. Tyler felt slightly lightheaded.

“Tyler,” Josh choked out. “God, I don’t even know where to start.”

“Then don’t,” Tyler breathed. “Just do this for a while.”

He didn’t loosen his grip. He could barely breathe, and his fingertips were a little numb, but he couldn’t have cared less. This was all that mattered. Tyler and Josh, Blurryface and Message Man. Together. 

“Still best friends,” said Josh, his voice muffled by Tyler’s hair. There was no question in it. It was just the statement of a fact, as simple and easy as telling the time of day. Tyler’s fears had vanished the second he laid eyes on Josh, but hearing him say it out loud only added to the overwhelming tingle of happiness that had taken over his entire body. 

“Definitely,” he murmured. “Best friends. Always. Love you. God, I missed you.”

“I missed you more.” Josh kissed the top of his head, then pulled back a little, looking guilty. “I shouldn’t have let them take you,” he whispered. “I’m sorry, Tyler.”

“It wasn’t your fault!” said Tyler, shocked. “I was the one who climbed up the friggin’ lights and got lost in the crowd!”

Josh shook his head, his smile slowly returning. “Okay. Hugging first, blame later. Sound good?”

“I’d prefer no blame at all,” Tyler mumbled, but he buried his face in Josh’s shoulder again all the same. “It was nobody’s fault. And it doesn’t matter, anyway. I’m here now.”

“I know. God, I know. You’re _here_.” Tyler could feel Josh smiling. “Holy shit. It’s really happening.”

“I know!” Tyler giggled. He’d thought about it so much, to a degree where it had almost felt like it would never happen. Like it was just a fantasy, destined only to be played out in his head a thousand times over. But this was better than any fantasy. 

“I really, really missed you,” he said thickly. 

He might have been crying a little bit.

And then, the floodgates burst. Forget a _little_ bit, he was fucking sobbing into Josh’s shoulder, but it didn’t matter because it was _Josh_. Everything was okay now. Better than okay. This was the happiest he’d been in five years, and every time a wave of sheer joy passed, another would come to take its place, heady and exhilarating like nothing he’d ever felt before. 

Without thinking, Tyler grabbed Josh’s face and kissed him on the mouth. It just felt like the right thing to do.

His own actions should have surprised him - or surprised Josh, at least - because they’d certainly never done _that_ before, but now that it was happening, Tyler wondered why they hadn’t. It was so natural. He fit so well into Josh’s arms, like he was meant to be there, and he felt _safe_. Josh tilted his head a bit, deepening the kiss, and Tyler breathed a happy little sigh.

It could have been minutes before they broke apart. It could have been hours. However long it was, it wasn’t enough. Tyler took in the sparkle of Josh’s eyes, the pink flush of his cheeks, and he wanted him to look like that forever. He knew he was grinning like an idiot, but he didn’t care. He didn’t have to care about things like that with Josh. That was why they were so awesome, and why they should definitely kiss again.

“Hey,” Josh said.

“Hi,” Tyler said back, beaming. 

“Well,” Dr. D said dryly, “Looks like Party Poison owes me ten carbons.”

**Author's Note:**

> awww how sweet.
> 
> up next, the one you've all been waiting for.... killer king, my child <3


End file.
